Adventure in Storybrooke
by Sliverloc303
Summary: Will was doing pretty well in Storybrooke after Wonderland. He's got a job, a home and friends; all the while pretending that being near Alice didn't change him for the better. But when Alice herself appears in town through a rabbit home-without Cyrus- his new life is about to change all over again.


**Adventure in Storybrooke**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of this.

Out of all the worlds he's been to, and that's counting all the time travel, Storybrooke is without doubt the most irritatingly cheerful.

People wave to each other in the street; even if you practically have cartoon rainclouds above your head, someone will still smile at you. The "Charming" family-who can't decide what to bloody call themselves-are pretty much the sheriffs slash leaders while Granny's is like the heart of the small town. Everyone seemed happy and content with living in the normal world, sometimes hopping back and forth to the Enchanted Forest using Jefferson's hat portal thing that decided to work. Dammit, even the Mad Hatter has a happy home and loving kid in Storybrooke. The whole place, from its colourful shop fronts to the pebble beach, is _literally _something out of a storybook.

But Will would rather be dangled above the sea than actually admit he likes living there.

After saving Cyrus and defeating the Red Queen and Jafar, he was 100% sure he was ready to walk away from Wonderland and everything that came with it. Saying goodbye to Alice had been hard.

Well, not really because he just waited until she and Cyrus were asleep side by side and then he snuck off to the White Rabbit. It had taken some convincing to make the creature send him back to Storybrooke on such short notice but he couldn't stay a moment longer.

Why should he? He hated the place and every time Alice and Cyrus looked at each other, something stabbed him in the gut. All he could really remember of that last day was giving out to himself about falling in love with Alice.

It wasn't like he meant to; it wasn't his fault! She just...looked at him once and that was it...probably. Ok, so maybe it's a little his fault but she became his bloody best friend and dragged him on her bloody quest, only for Will to see her run into Cyrus' arms. He might as well have taken his own head off in that moment, all the pain it caused him.

So he hadn't even asked for the wishes and just bolted right out of there. And here he was, nearly three months later, and living a pretty good life, if he could say so himself.

He's the main bartender at The Rabbit Hole (he's petitioning to change the name) and Jefferson was nice enough to rent out a room to him in his obnoxiously huge mansion. Will's...former talents are also requested now and again; mostly by Gold or the Charmings...Swans...whatever.

Since everyone came back from Neverland using that ridiculous ship, magic came back to town and "things" have been appearing in Storybrooke. Not enough to actually dampen the consistent happiness, but enough weird objects and sometime even people, to freak out those in charge.

And since he and Jefferson have travelled to more worlds and times than maybe even Mr Goldstiltskin (that is totally his name; Will doesn't care), the good people of the town asked them to step in and have a look. Little Henry Mills-Swan-Charming has given them a team name or something, he's not sure.

The only problem, of course, was Alice.

Even when they were literally a world apart-he checked-she was constantly on his mind. He thought time would make the memories fade but turns out it's completely the other way around. Every smile, every laugh; every scowl and every fight were all etched into his brain and they played on a loop as if to torture him. He had an ache in his chest without her but at least that was better than watching her with Cyrus. She probably didn't even notice he was gone. That kind of made him feel worse. Will felt that he was left with no choice but to just keep going and hope that one day, he wouldn't love her so much. No luck so far.

That left him, on an early Friday morning walking down the street to Granny's for an early breakfast; since there was nothing in the fridge. He didn't need an alarm clock because Grace was usually louder than a brass band in the morning. Jefferson drove her to school, like he did every day and he would greet Emma Swan with a nervous smile and an idiotic mention of the weather, like he did every day. Seriously, his mate was no help with women.

Will was starting to wonder if Jefferson actually looked her in the eyes this time when his phone rang. Pulling it out of his jeans, he quickly saw Prince Charming's number.

"Hello?" he answered, only to hear a hissed "Where the hell are you?!"

Will flinched slightly but replied, "I'm literally around the corner from Granny's. Why? What's happened? Have those bloody dwarves dug up Main Street again?"

There was a shuffling and then Charming said, "No, but there is a hole on the pavement outside the diner and someone just climbed out of it."

Will froze, his feet suddenly glued to the ground. Oh bloody hell...

"I called Jefferson and he said that it's a classic White Rabbit Portal and that you were closer than he was. Will?"

He startled slightly but suddenly hurried into a jog. "Yeah, I'm on my way. Be there in a second, David...Charming...Person."

He could practically hear the man rolling his eyes. "I've told you before; just call me David. And get here soon."

Will hung up, taking all the shortcuts he had learned over the course of his time in town. Soon he was running down the side ally, the left wall of Granny's on his right side. He couldn't hear anyone screaming and David had said it was a "someone" so that at least ruled out the more dangerous creatures in Wonderland. But if not them and clearly not the Rabbit, then who?

He skidded around the corner and stopped, looking down the pavement to see the group of people crowded outside the diner. The dwarves were peering at the large hole in the ground while Granny complained from the steps. Ruby, David and Mary Margret were the ones standing around a person covered in dirt. Will stilled once again, blinking a few times as he drank in the sight of her.

Alice. Alice was in Storybrooke.

She was wearing that purple outfit but it was ripped slightly and mud streaked across it. Her brown hair was in a braid but it was loose, framing her face. He had forgotten how much he missed her. That ache, which had been his steady companion for the past three months, was lifted from his chest and he breathed out one word.

"Alice."

He must have said it pretty loud because they all turned around to stare at him; including the girl herself. Her whole face lit up and a smile broke out onto her face.

"Will!" she exclaimed, running in his direction. He barely had time to get back to his senses when she threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. Forget senses; he had Alice.

He wrapped his own arms around her waist, hugging her close while she laughed in his ear. He knew that his eyes were closed and there was a goofy grin on his face but he didn't care. He would allow himself one moment. Alice pulled away but kept her hands on his shoulders. Will quickly opened his eyes to meet her shining gaze.

"You are not an easy man to track down," she said, "I had to hunt the Rabbit all through Wonderland before he sent me to you."

He had never had so many questions in his life; not even the first time he had seen a talking rabbit in a waistcoat was he this confused. Looking past Alice, Will could see everybody staring at them. The dwarves were grinning, Granny looked slightly proud while Mary Margret was clutching her husband's sleeve with one hand over her mouth. To his surprise, Emma and Jefferson were there. They must have just come from the school together and while Emma looked utterly confused, Jefferson was whispering something to her; probably explaining the whole situation. The problem was that they were all looking at him with a knowing look on their faces.

Crap. He lived in a town where True Love was a human being; they all knew what he thought about this mystery girl.

"Well, are you going to introduce us?" Granny called out and Alice took Will's hand as they walked closer to the group.

"Like I said, I'm Alice and I was looking for the Knave; or Will."

"Will; they all call me Will," he mumbled.

"Wait," Emma said, "Alice? As in Alice in Wonderland?"

She turned to Jefferson who nodded quickly.

Alice smiled kindly at him, waving slightly. "Hello Hatter; I see you are feeling better."

The man smiled back at her before replying, "I certainly am; finding Grace solved many problems. And everyone calls me Jefferson here."

"Jefferson," Alice tested out, "A lovely name. But where is here exactly?"

"You went through a portal not knowing where it was taking you?" David questioned, causing Alice to shrug.

"I told the Rabbit to take me to Will and that's clearly what he did."

She was still holding his hand; that was pretty much all his brain was processing at the moment.

Mary Margret took charge in that moment, a knowing smile on her face. "Well how about you go get cleaned up in the diner and Will can order you something?"

Alice looked at him and Will finally smiled, leading the way into the diner.

* * *

Over the next few hours, Granny's was hive of gossipy and nosey activity. It had been a while since someone nice and non lethal had landed in Storybrooke, so everyone wanted to meet Alice. She had taken it all in her stride, staying close to Will, as she met probably the whole town. She was fascinated with everything in the modern world and Belle had promised to get her a bunch of history books to fill her in with all she had missed.

Will just watched her throughout it all, switching between drinking too much coffee and not believing she was real. He stayed silent however, especially about Cyrus. He was afraid that if he even uttered his name, Alice would disappear again. Wow, this place was making him a sap.

Grace and Henry had come in after school to meet Alice. They were also firm friends so Will had a good excuse to tell Jefferson to invite Emma and Henry over for dinner. Jefferson gave him a sneaky glare before smirking and pointing out that Alice would also being joining them dinner-obviously.

The small group-including an exasperated Emma- returned to the mansion. The house was soon filled with the smell of good food and Henry and Grace were quick to show Alice to joys of television and movies. Will nearly burst out laughing when she saw the DVD of "_Alice in Wonderland_".

She demanded that they watched it but Emma insisted that she shower and change first. Will watched her go upstairs with Emma, who had grabbed a spare change of clothes for the girl from her own house. He sighed, listening as they walked across the landing, chatting.

It was only when a door closed did he make his way into the warm kitchen, leaving Grace and Henry to play in the living room. Jefferson was standing by the hob, stirring a pot of pasta. He turned around and stared at his friend for a moment. "So..."

Will sighed, his shoulder visibly drooping. "Shut up."

"It's been a while since I've seen her. Last time, she was barely older than Grace."

Will just rolled his eyes at him as he leaned against the counter. Jefferson mirrored his pose, arms folded. "She seems nice now, if a little more...dark?"

"She's stubborn," Will agreed, "She had to be after all she went through. But I don't know why she's here! Where's Cyrus? Everything she did was to get him back and three months later she shows up here without him."

Jefferson shrugged. "Time works differently in Wonderland, remember? Maybe it's been much longer for Alice. Maybe something happened? But it might be better to ask after dinner and Emma and Henry have gone home."

Will grinned at him, replying, "Oh yes, we wouldn't want to mess up your date."

Jefferson nearly blushed. "It is not a date and don't you dare say otherwise to Emma. The last time she was in this house, I was taking her and Mary Margret hostage, ok? This is a big step for her."

Will held up his hands in defence, causing his friend to reluctantly laugh.

A few minutes later, just as the food was being dished out, Emma and Alice came down the stairs. Will had been having a very serious conversation with Grace and Henry about which one of the animal sidekicks was better was he saw her.

Alice's hair was brushed ad pulled back in a loose ponytail. She had jeans with short boots and an oversized sweater on. She met his gaze and grinned widely, only causing another goofy grin to appear on his face.

Jefferson laughed so hard, he nearly inhaled his pasta sauce.

As revenge, Will brought Alice into the living room after dinner to watch the Wonderland DVD with the two children, leaving Jefferson to wash up and be alone with Emma.

* * *

Alice stared at the television screen, fascinated at the images flashing across it. She watched her cartoon self ran around a pretty harmless Wonderland compared to what she had been through, joining in with Grace and Henry's laughter.

Will stayed pretty silent, eyes glued to the screen but a faraway look in them. She hadn't had any real alone time with him since she had gotten to this world. It had been lovely meeting all these new people and she was glad to see Hat-Jefferson again but she wanted to speak with Will alone. They had a lot to talk about.

It was getting late when Emma and Henry decided to head home and Alice and Will stayed on the couch as they said their goodbyes. From her seat, she could look out to the front door and Will stared with her. Jefferson and Emma were standing there, talking lowly, hesitant smiles on their faces.

"What are they doing?" Alice asked quietly, only for Will to reply with, "The most awkward goodnight non-kiss ever."

She laughed, nearly having forgotten the last time he had made her smile.

When Emma finally left with Henry, Jefferson quickly decided that it was also time for Grace to head to bed. The little girl protested but he was firm and soon, it was just Will and Alice. For a while, they just sat with the movie playing. Will had his feet up on the couch, something that Jefferson probably would have commented on if there hadn't been guests about. Alice, meanwhile, was pretty content with sitting right next to him, her side against his.

But out of the corner of her eye, she could see his jaw clenching and the tell-tell signs of a fight starting to brew. "Will-."

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" His voice was so tense, barely able to hide the shake in it. He refused to look at her, instead watching the dormouse fall asleep in the tea cup. Alice swallowed but before she could even continue, Will started to ramble.

"You got Cyrus! You found him and the last time I checked, it was all working out pretty well between you two. The whole bloody point of your stupid adventure was to get him back and now you are here and he's not. Unless he's getting the late portal to Storybrooke; in which case, Jefferson should know in case we need another place setting for dinner!"

Alice let out a strangled growl at his anger and she snapped back, "Really? That's funny because I thought that the whole point of our adventure was for you to get your wishes. But no, clearly you just ran off in the middle of the night, without a goodbye!"

Will stared at her at this point, his mouth falling open slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry; I just didn't want to break up you and Cyrus in the midst of your beautiful reunion."

"Well don't worry because I did that perfect fine by myself."

Silence fell between them like a stone, the only sound was the cartoon Alice complaining about the woods.

"What?" His question was one of utter confusion, coupled with the fact that Will stood up from the couch and stared at her with bewildered eyes.

Alice looked at him stubbornly, staring him down. "After you left, Cyrus and I decided to visit a few of the places we had been to before; go on another adventure. But then, a few months at least past and I realised that it wasn't what I wanted. Cyrus stayed in a free Wonderland and I came here."

Will blinked at her, his mouth moving but no words spilling out. "Are you serious?! After everything we went through-."

"Yes!" she snapped out, cutting him off. "Yes, after everything we did, after all the dangerous situations I dragged you into, Cyrus and I didn't end up together. I realised that I didn't want any more far off and crazy adventures; Cyrus didn't agree with me."

"So you broke up over a single difference of opinion?" Will was beyond confused, mixed in with exasperation and anger.

Alice sighed, brushing a hand over her face before replying. "No; of course not. We were happy for a while but then...Cyrus didn't understand what I had gone through after he had "died". He said that I wasn't the girl he knew and that I had change. Which I found incredibly insulting because what else was I supposed to do after being in that place?"

Will's gaze softened and he took a step closer. Even he had noticed the difference in Alice when he had found her in the mental hospital. It was a dark place, filled with the constant noise that she was wrong and a liar. He had seen it; he knew. But Cyrus, who had literally lived in fairytales all his existence, didn't understand.

"That naive girl, who fell in love with a boy who believed her, disappeared a long time ago and I didn't want to go back to being her; I couldn't."

"I'll kill him," Will bit out.

Alice let out a low laugh, wrapping her arms around herself. "There's no need for that; we parted on pretty good terms. You see, being back in the normal world and being in that place made me miss Wonderland. But returning there as a different person, made me see that I don't want dangerous adventures anymore. All I've ever wanted was to be someplace where I was welcome and where people...loved me."

Will swallowed, slowly sitting down on the couch beside her. "So, with that idea in mind...you came here. To me."

Alice smiled, reached out and took one of his hands. "To you."

Alice watched as he tried to say something else. Instead she just leaned forward and placed a kiss on his mouth. It was quick, a peck but she felt down to her toes and back. Staying close to his shocked face, she smiled.

Will copied her actions before shaking his head and saying, "You've only been back a day and you're already causing trouble. I mean, you blew a hole in Main Street."

Alice giggled, letting him wrap an arm around her shoulder and pulling towards him.

On the upstairs landing, Grace and Jefferson gazed through the railings as the new couple watched the rest of the movie.

"Papa, is Uncle Will going to stop scowling so much now?"

Jefferson, taking his phone of his pocket, nodded. "I should think so."

"What are you doing, Papa?"

"Texting Emma and telling her she was right."

* * *

Saturday morning found Will buying a coffee and a tea to go from Granny's. Ruby's smile nearly spilt her face when she asked how Alice was but Will refused to entertain her amusement. Plus his face was turning bright red. He exited the building just as Alice climbed the steps.

"How did it go?" he asked, handing her the tea.

She looked at it for a moment before taking a happy sip. "Great, you are looking at the new florist in town. Apparently the old one had a bad run in with Mr Gold?"

Will just rolled his eyes, replying, "Everyone has had one of those before. As glad as I am that you've got this job, what am I going to do if I ever need to surprise you with flowers?"

Alice raised an eyebrow, asking, "You? You would buy me flowers?"

"Maybe. You don't know how romantic I can be."

"Well then," Alice said with mock seriousness, "You must promise me one thing."

Will stepped closer to her, nodding.

"Never buy me roses."

Will slipped his free arm around her waist bringing her even closer. "Never," he declared before kissing her giggling mouth.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt?"

They pulled away to look behind them at Archie, standing nervously on the pavement in front of the covered rabbit hole. "Um, Sherriff Swan just called me looking for you, Will. Apparently something has come out of the water from the beach and she needs you to take a look at it."

Will nodded and Alice turned back to him. "Can I come with you? You know, to protect you from the water?"

He squeezed her side to make her giggle again before they both walked down the steps. Archie lead the way and Will moved his arm to drape over Alice's shoulder. They sipped their drinks and Alice looked around in complete awe of the still new place. Will watched her with a warm smile before pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

"Welcome to Storybrooke Alice," he said, "Welcome home."


End file.
